Introduction: Sexual self-efficacy is a multidimensional construct that includes one’s belief in one’s abilities to have effective sexual function, be desirable for the spouse, and evaluate self-efficacy in sexual behavior. Understanding sexual self-efficacy is important in marriage which some women do not express it due to shame, but protest their sexual problems like anxiety, depressive symptoms, sleep disorders or gynecologic symptoms. Sexual self-efficacy plays a fundamental role in sexual decision making and eventually the result is prevention of high-risk sexual behavior and sexually transmitted infections. This review aims to discuss the effective, related factors , outcomes and identify effective interventions in women's sexual self-efficacy.
Methods: This study is a scoping review performed by searching for -women, sexual self-efficacy,self -efficacy- keywords in authoritative databases like PubMed, Scopus, Elsevier and Google Scholar. Among 110 articles related to the research topic,8 studies were obtained from 1997-2021 period and reviewed.
Results: According to the studies found, two studies evaluated effective and related factors in women's sexual self-efficacy, two studies discussed outcomes and four studies declared effective interventions on women's sexual self-efficacy. Results of this study showed that some main related factors to sexual self-efficacy are: 1)Socio-demographic factors: age, race, socioeconomic status, parental support, social support, religious obligations, negotiation skills, addicts, working hours, history of delivery, physical problem.2)Marital status factors: failure in marital, marital satisfaction, marital quality, marriage duration, intimacy. 3)Sexual history factors: sexual self-concept, sexual experience, confidence in sexual relationships, sexual activity, sexual self- schema, sexual adjustment, childhood sexual abuse, sexual disorders, sexual risk cognition, experiences of abuse or violence, partner’s belief, experiences of sex-therapy training.4)Psychological factors: obsession, psychosis, anxiety, depression, paranoia, phobia, individual sensitivity, aggression .Young women have more sexual self-efficacy when they have greater autonomy and report partners to be more supportive and warmer, and less coercive and rejecting. It has been declared that one out of three women in worldwide experience sexual violence, Due to the association between sexual violence and sexual self-efficacy, health professionals may provide sexual education programs to increase sexual self-efficacy. Sexual self-efficacy is generally positively related, either directly or indirectly, to high risk sexual behaviors in both the regular and casual sexual context, therefor despite what it is insinuated, high levels of sexual self-efficacy is not associated with taking less high risk sexual behaviors. There is a connection between pregnancy and sexual dysfunction; On the other hand, sexual self-efficacy is positively correlated with some sexual function subscales; Thus, sexual function in women can be enhanced by increasing women’s sexual self-efficacy. It has been showed that some interventions like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), pelvic floor muscle exercise can emphasize sexual self-efficacy in pregnant women and counseling and sleep improvement can improve sexual self-efficacy in other women.
Conclusion: According to the results of this review study, sexual self-efficacy has multidimensional factors that one of the most important issue is autonomy with partner. Sexual self-efficacy may contribute to lower sexual violence in women but it does not reduce high risk sexual behaviors. Understanding the importance and effective, related factors in women's sexual self-efficacy, can contribute to effective interventions in women and enhance their sexual self-efficacy.
Keywords: women. sexual self-efficacy. self-efficacy